November 03, 2010

Playing catch up

Hello friends! So sorry I've been MIA for longer than I said I would be. We got back from Portland and I had quite a bit of work to catch up on, Halloween to prepare for, and then I got sick, which meant for more catch up. I'm just now coming out from under everything.

The wedding was wonderful. Colt and I shared a very special day with many of our closest friends and family—we missed those who couldn't be there—and then spent some quality time together in Portland. What a great city. There's so much to do, and everything is so easily accessible by walking or public transit. We didn't end up taking the light rail anywhere, but we could have!

I haven't gotten all of the photos from the big day compiled yet, but here's a few of my favorites from our official photographers:

Many unofficial photogs took some great ones as well, but I still need to upload their photos to my Photobucket.

After spending most of yesterday sleeping/on the couch, I dragged myself up and the mister and I went downtown to attend w00tstock 2.9. What is w00stock, you ask? Well:

For literalists, w00tstock is a live concert series that periodically appears in different cities:

Has a mix of music; comedy; geeky short presentations; and thought-provoking stories.

Is scheduled to run roughly three hours.

Has a meet-and-greet reception with the hosts and guests after the performance.

Or for the the metaphorically-minded, w00tstock is:

Nerd Vaudeville / Geek Variety Show.

The best parts of a Convention rolled into a high-energy concert event.

A live celebration of all things nerd and geek.

My Comic Con boyfriend Wil Wheaton wasn't in attendance for this show, but the back-up Wil was none other than Neil Gaiman, one of the best authors this world has ever seen. (Neil's actually the main reason I wanted to go to this show.)

I really had no idea what to expect from the show, other than the stuff that I read about on the website. But it was a total blast. Colt and I were both laughing until we cried at the various (often inappropriate) jokes and songs. Paul and Storm sang about, among other things, the man who invented chicken nuggets. Bill Amend showed us some of his nerdier comic strips. Neil read a story called The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds and a short piece about the effects of alcohol on a writer's creativity. (Serious fangirl moment, hearing one of my favorite authors read something live.) Molly Lewis sang songs about wanting to have Stephen Fry's babies, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and breaking up with Wikipedia. Stephen Toulouse (a guy from XBox Live) read a story from his upcoming book. (Colt thought it was hilarious that he, a man who's worked at Microsoft for years and years, had both an iPad and an iPhone.) The guys from Rooster Teeth made a PSA. We watched funny YouTube videos. And Adam Savage told stories about his son's first foray into the world of Internet porn.

Really, you had to be there.

Perhaps the funniest part of the night was watching the poor ASL interpreters sign some of the terms that were said. Over. And over. And over. (On purpose.) Those two were seriously good sports.

Some photos:

Paul and Storm and the drummer from the Presidents of the United States of America

Adam Savage

Neil Gaiman

A Wesley Crusher tribute backdrop. In the bottom left corner you can see a life-size Wil Wheaton poster.

Neil in a sock monkey hat. Yes, you read that right.

If you enjoy the nerdier side of life, I definitely suggest attending a w00tstock.

With November (How did that happen?!) comes the holidays, cooler weather (hopefully) and the end of a year that went by so much faster than I thought possible. I love this time of year, as busy as it can be. Don't you?